Biking is the new way of Walking

Back in my country, we don’t walk, or bike! Having lived here for over a month, I am embarrass to admit, the citizens of where I came from are not given enough facilities to walk and ride bikes. We only drive our way to everywhere we go. Even to the nearest grocery store, which takes about 5 minutes walk. I know because I did it once, and I received a lot of weird looks from my neighbors and a lot of questions from my parents like, ’Why do you walk?’, ’What is wrong with your car?’, ’You know it is dangerous to walk, what if there are some dangerous men out there following you?’ and lots more of the same kind. But here in this city, I am given the option to walk or ride my bike or drive! When I explained this excitement to the locals, most of them did not get my enthusiasm, just because they have not experienced the lack of this freedom. Until my husband, a local German who have been living in my home country for solid 3 years explained to them the real situation, then they understood. You guys are so blessed living in this country with such somewhat close to being a precise system, trying its best to taking care of the welfare of people as well as the growth of the country. Yes, I know there are still works to be done here and there, but the full chunk of what makes this country runs are in its foundation. I shared this piece of reflection to my friend back in my home country, and the first thing she said, ’You guys can walk and bike? That makes you all much healthier by nature!’. Yup, I would agree, you guys are forced to stay healthy. And that helps with the quality of the health-care and its governmental hospital. And this in a circle, creates a more happy people. My heart sank thinking back about the people with less of this fortunate blessings. I wish we all could walk and ride our bikes wherever we are.

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